We have now reached the surge. By now it's no longer a matter of announcing numbers of confirmed cases. We are now at a point where it's our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, close friends and comrades that are infected," Mkhize said in a ministerial statement in Parliament on Wednesday.

"As a country and the world at large, we are now in this reality where we must live with knowing that some of us cannot even bury our loved ones because of restrictions or even because we, ourselves, have been exposed.

"This pandemic that is attacking us globally will cause some of us lifetime scars. It steals from us - from some lives, others jobs, others businesses. It spares no race, no gender or social class," Mkhize said.

The latest number of confirmed cases is 224 665.

According to the latest update, 3 602 deaths have been recorded in the country.

There have been 106 842 recoveries.

So far, 1.94 million tests have been conducted, with 36 867 new tests.

News24